Chapter X: Part 10

"in saying that the task of the German people is a hard
one.... I hope our peace will not be disturbed, and that the
events that are now happening will open our eyes, steel our
courage, and find us united, if it should be necessary for
us to intervene in world-policy."

The Emperor had, no doubt, specially in mind the birth of the Anglo-French Entente and the war between Russia and Japan, both events forming the dominant factors of the political situation at this time. The Russo-Japanese War arose primarily from the unwillingness of Russia to evacuate Manchuria after the Boxer troubles in China. The incidents of the war are still fresh in public memory.

It need only be recalled here that Germany was neutral throughout the conflict, that both President Roosevelt and the Emperor offered their services as mediators in its course, and that on the capture of Port Arthur by Admiral Nogi, in January, 1905, the Emperor telegraphed his bestowal of the _Ordre pour le Mérile_ on General Stoessel, the Russian defender of Port Arthur, and on Admiral Nogi.

In the troubled history of Anglo-German relations is to be recorded the presence, in June of this year, of King Edward VII at Kiel with a squadron of battleships to pay an official visit to his nephew. The two fleets, those sunny days, formed a splendid spectacle--the two mightiest police forces, the Emperor would probably agree in saying, the world could produce. In fact, the Emperor had some such thought in mind, for he addressed King Edward as follows:--

"Your Majesty has been welcomed by the thunder of the guns
of the German fleet. It is the youngest navy in the world
and an expression of the reviving sea-power of the new
German Empire, founded by the late great Emperor, designed
for the protection of the Empire's trade and territory, and
intended, equally with the German army, for the preservation
of peace."

One or two other incidents of interest in the Emperor's life may close the record of this year. One of them was the arrival of the Italian composer, Leoncavallo, in Berlin, to hand the Emperor the text of the opera "Der Roland von Berlin," Leoncavallo had composed at the Emperor's express request. Roland was a "strong, valiant and pious" knight of Charlemagne's time--like the Emperor, let us say--who originally hailed from Brittany--that lone and lovely Cinderella of France--and afterwards, for some unexplained reason, came to be the type of municipal independence in Germany.

During the summer the Emperor and the Empress made an excursion, when on the Saalburg, to the statues of the Roman Emperors Hadrian and Severus. Did the Emperor recall, one wonders, as he stood before the figure of Hadrian, that pagan monarch's address to his soul:--

"Animula vagula, blandula,
Hospes, comesque corporis,
Quae nunc abibis in loca,
Pallidula, rigida, nudula,
Nee, ut soles, dabis jocos?"

It sounds a little gloomy as a quotation, but, fortunately for Germany and the Emperor, for "nunc" can be put, _pace_ the poet, the indefinite, yet all too definite, "aliquando."

XII.

MOROCCO

1905

The Emperor started for Tangier towards the end of March, but before that he had got through imperial business of a miscellaneous kind which exemplifies the life he leads practically at all times.

In January he had exchanged telegrams with the Czar and the Mikado concerning his bestowal of the Order of Merit on Generals Stoessel and Nogi, asking permission to bestow the Order and receiving expressions of consent. Another telegram went to the composer Leoncavallo in Naples, congratulating him on the success there of his "Roland von Berlin." In February, the Emperor opened an international Automobile Exhibition in Berlin, received Prince Charles, Infanta of Spain, and the King of Bulgaria, unveiled a monument to his ancestor, Admiral Coligny, who was killed in the Bartholomew massacre, listened to a naval captain's lecture on Port Arthur, opened the new Lutheran Cathedral (the "Dom") in Berlin, telegraphed thanks to the University of Pennsylvania for its doctor's degree which the Emperor said he was proud to know George Washington once held, attended a lecture by Professor Delitzsch on "Assyria," and was present at a memorial service for the painter Adolf von Menzel, who died this month. In March he visited Heligoland, inspected the progress of some alterations at the Royal Opera in Berlin, and sent the Gold Medal for Science to Manuel Garcia, on the occasion of the latter's hundredth birthday, as recognition of his invention of the laryngoscope, or mirror for examining the throat.

Just before starting for Morocco the Emperor made the speech in which he claimed that Germans are the "salt of the earth." In the same speech he had previously declared that as the result of his reading of history he meant never to strive after world-conquest. "For what," he asked,

"has become of the so-called world-empires? Alexander the
Great, Napoleon the First, all the great warrior heroes swam
in blood and left behind them subjugated peoples, who at the
first opportunity rose and brought their empires to ruin.
The world-empire which I dream of will be, above all, the
newly established German Empire, enjoying on every side the
most absolute confidence as a peaceable, honest, and quiet
neighbour, not founded on conquest by the sword, but on the
mutual confidence of nations, striving for the same
objects."

While on the way to Morocco the Emperor put in at Lisbon to pay a visit to the King of Portugal, and with the latter attended a meeting of the Geographical Society. From Lisbon he went to Gibraltar, and from thence, after a few hours' stay, he started for Tangier.

The Morocco incident, as it is often too lightly called, should rather be regarded as a phase in the world's economic history and an occurrence of moment for the future peace of all nations than the mere game on the diplomatic chess-board many writers appear to consider it. According to French critics, and they may be taken as representative of the feeling everywhere prevalent during the seven years the incident lasted, its origin was a matter of alliances and the balance of power. Germany, according to these writers, wanted to preserve the position of hegemony in Europe she had obtained under Bismarck, and consequently felt annoyed by the Triple Entente, which robbed her of her traditional friend Russia and set up an effective counterpoise to the Triple Alliance of which Germany was the leading Power, and on which she could, or believed she could, rely for support in case of war with France. In going, therefore, to Tangier, at the moment when her defeat by Japan rendered Russia for the time being of little or no account in the considerations of diplomacy, the Emperor, according to these writers, in reality was making a determined attempt to break the Entente combination and protect his Empire from political isolation or inferiority.

It is quite possible that such were the motives of the Emperor's action, but if so he was building better than he knew. The vicissitudes of the Moroccan episode are described briefly below, yet some remarks of a general nature as to the whole episode considered in its historical perspective may be permitted in advance. But first, what is historical perspective? It may perhaps be defined as that view of history which shows in its true proportions the relative importance of an event to other events which strongly and permanently leave their mark on the character and development of the period or generation in which they occur. Regarded from this standpoint the Morocco incident can claim an exceptional position, for it was the first occasion in modern diplomatic history on which a Great Power officially proclaimed _urbi et orbi_ the doctrine of the "open door," the doctrine of equal economic treatment for all nations for the benefit of all nations, and was willing to go to war in support of it.

It was not, of course, the first time the demand for the open door had been made; loudly and bloodily, too; since most wars from those of Greece and Rome to the war between Russia and Japan of recent years were waged with the intention, or in the hope, of opening, by conquest or contract, territory of the enemy to the mercantile enterprise of the victors. But this was the open door in a very selfish and restricted sense, and though many isolated events had occurred of late years, the international agreements regarding China among them, proving that the idea of the open door was gaining strength as a right common to all nations, it was not until the Emperor went to Tangier that a Great Power risked a great war in order to exemplify and enforce it.

The Emperor and his advisers were probably not moved by any altruistic sentiments in the matter, and their sole reason for action may have been to see that German subjects should not be excluded from Moroccan markets. It may also be that Germany was resolved that if there was to be a seizure of Morocco she should get her share of the territory to be distributed, notwithstanding her refusal, revealed by the late Foreign Secretary, Kiderlen-Waechter, in the Reichstag's confidential committee, to accede to Mr. Chamberlain's proposal, made some time before the incident, for a partition of the Shereefian Empire. But the acquisition of territory does not seem to have been the mainspring of her policy, while from the beginning to the end of the incident, however theatrical and questionable her diplomatic conduct may have been at moments during the negotiations, she was throughout consistent and successful in her demand for economic equality all round. This is a great gain for the future, for, with the world nearly all parcelled out, economic considerations, which are almost in all cases adjustable, are now the most weighty factors in international relations.

Apart from this view of the incident, it is clear that Germany was pursuing her claim to a "place in the sun," and she did so to the unconcealed annoyance of nations which up to then had never thought of her in a rôle she appeared to be aspiring to, that of a Mediterranean Power. To these nations she seemed an intruder in a sphere to which she neither naturally nor rightfully belonged. Evidently she had no political or historical claims in Morocco, while her commercial interests were less than 10 per cent of Morocco trade.

A narration of the incident may, for the sake of convenience, though involving some anticipation of the future, be dealt with in three sections: from the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904, and the Emperor's visit to Tangier in March, 1905, to the Act of Algeciras a year subsequently; from the Act of Algeciras to the Franco-German Agreement of 1909; and from that to the--let it be hoped--final settlement by the Franco-German Agreement of November 5, 1911.

The Anglo-French Agreement of 1904 gave France a free hand in Morocco in consideration of France giving England a similar position in Egypt and the Nile Valley. The state of things in Morocco at this time was one of discord and rebellion. In the midst of it, the Sultan, El Hassan, died, and was succeeded by Abdul Aziz, a minor. On coming of age Abdul Aziz showed his inability to rule, the country fell again into disorder and Abdul turned for help to France. Meantime England and France had been negotiating without the knowledge of Germany, and in April, 1904, the Anglo-French Agreement was signed. It was accompanied by an official declaration that France had no intention of changing the political status of Morocco, but only contemplated a policy there of "pacific penetration and reforms." Thereupon Prince von Bülow, the German Chancellor, stated in the Reichstag that the German Government had no reason to assume that the Agreement was directed against any Power and that "it appeared to be an attempt by England and France to come to a friendly understanding respecting their colonial differences."

"From the standpoint of German interests," continued the Chancellor, "we have no objections to raise to it." No parliamentary reference was made to Morocco until March, 1905, when the Chancellor spoke of the approaching visit of the Emperor to Tangier, and it became evident that the Emperor and his advisers had come to the conclusion that, as France seemed about assuming a full protectorate over Morocco, as she had tried to do in Tunis, and that this, in accordance with French policy, would result in the exclusion of other nationals from commerce and the development of the country, Germany must take action. Prince von Bülow explained that "his Majesty had, in the previous year, declared to the King of Spain that Germany pursued no policy of territorial acquisition in Morocco." He continued:

"Independent of the visit, and independent of the
territorial question, is the question whether we have
economic interests to protect in Morocco. That we have
certainly. We have in Morocco, as in China, a considerable
interest in the maintenance of the open door, that is the
equal treatment of all trading nations."

And he concluded by saying:

"So far as an attempt is being made to alter the
international status of Morocco, or to control the open door
in the economic development of the country, we must see more
closely than before that our economical interests are not
endangered. Our first step, accordingly, is to put ourselves
into communication with the Sultan."

The visit came off as announced, and the Emperor, on arriving at Tangier, made a speech which caused a sensation in every diplomatic chancellery; indeed, in all parts of the world. The Emperor's speech, which was addressed to the German colonists on March 31, 1905, was as follows:--

"I rejoice to make acquaintance with the pioneers of Germany
in Morocco and to be able to say to them that they have done
their duty. Germany has great commercial interests there. I
will promote and protect trade, which shows a gratifying
development, and make it my care to secure full equality
with all nations. This is only possible when the sovereignty
of the Sultan and the independence of the country are
preserved. Both are for Germany beyond question, and for
that I am ready at all times to answer. I think my visit to
Tangier announces this clearly and emphatically, and will
doubtless produce the conviction that whatever Germany
undertakes in Morocco will be negotiated exclusively with
the Sultan."

The result of these unmistakable declarations was that the Sultan rejected proposals made to him by the French, and shortly afterwards, on the advice of Germany, came forward with suggestions for a European conference. M. Delcassé, the French Foreign Minister, opposed the proposal, and for a time war between France and Germany appeared inevitable; but France was not in a military position to ignore Germany's threatening language, M. Delcassé had to resign, the French Cabinet under M. Rouvier agreed to the conference, and it met at Algeciras in January, 1906. At the conference Great Britain, in consonance with the Entente, supported France; Austria adhered loyally to her Triplice engagements and proved the "brilliant second" to Germany the Emperor subsequently described her; Italy, on the other hand, gave her Teutonic ally only lukewarm support.

In fairness, however, should be quoted here the explanation of Italy's attitude given by Chancellor von Bülow when discussing the conference in Parliament next year. The impression is general, both in and out of Germany, that Italy is only a half-hearted political ally. It is based on the temperamental difference between the Latin and the Teutonic races, on the popular sympathy between the French and Italian peoples, and to the supposedly reluctant support lent by Italy to Germany during the critical time of the conference, the extra-tour, as Prince Bülow, using a metaphor of the ballroom, termed it, she took with France on that occasion. Prince Bülow now endeavoured to dissipate or correct the impression, at any rate, as regarded Algeciras. "Italy," he said,

"found herself in a difficult position there. Various
agreements between Italy and France regarding Morocco had
come into existence anterior to the conference, but Germany
was satisfied that they were not inconsistent with Italy's
Triplice engagements; in fact, Germany had, several years
ago, officially told Italy she must use her own judgment and
act on her own responsibility in dealing with her French
neighbour in Africa and the Mediterranean."

When it was settled that a conference should be held, Italy, the Chancellor continued, "gave Germany timely information as to the extent to which her support of Germany could go, and as a matter of fact she supported Germany's views in the bank and police questions." So far the German official explanation, but the impression of Italian lukewarmness as a member of the Triplice has lost none of its universality thereby. How well or ill founded the impression is, it will be for the future to disclose.

The summoning of the conference had been a triumph for German diplomacy, but its results were disappointing to her; for while the proceedings showed that among all nations she could only fully rely on the sympathy and support of Austria, they ended in an acknowledgment by Germany of the special position of France in Morocco. The Act of Algeciras, which was dated April 7, 1906, stated that the signatory Powers recognized that "order, peace, and prosperity" could only be made to reign in Morocco

"by means of the introduction of reforms based upon the
triple principle of the sovereignty and independence of his
Majesty the Sultan, the integrity of his States, and
economic liberty without any inequality."

Then followed six Declarations regarding the organization of the police, smuggling, the establishment of a State bank, the collection of taxes, and the finding of new sources of revenue, customs, and administrative services and public works. For the organization of the police, French and Spanish officers and non-commissioned officers were to be placed at the disposal of the Sultan by the French and Spanish Governments. Tenders for public works were to be adjudicated on impartially without regard to the nationality of the bidder. The effect of the Act was to give international recognition to the special position of France and Spain in Morocco, while safeguarding the economic interests of other Powers.

The attitude taken up by Germany relative to the conference was set forth in a speech delivered by Prince von Bülow in the Reichstag in December, 1905. It was based, he explained, on the provisions of the Madrid Convention of 1880, in which all the Great Powers and the United States had taken part. The Chancellor claimed that Germany sought no special privileges in Morocco, but favoured a peaceful and independent development of the Shereefian Empire. He denied that German rights could be abrogated by an Anglo-French Agreement, and pointing out that Morocco in 1880 had granted all the signatories to the Madrid Convention most-favoured-nation treatment, claimed that if France desired to make good her demand for special privileges, she ought to have the consent of the special signatories to the Madrid pact. Germany had a right to be heard in any new settlement of Moroccan conditions; she could not allow herself to be treated as a _quantité négligeable_, nor be left out of account when a country lying on two of the world's greatest commercial highways was being disposed of. She had a commercial treaty with Morocco, conferring most-favoured-nation rights, and it did not accord with her honour to give way.

The Act of Algeciras, however, proved to have brought only temporary relief to European tension. Disturbances continued in Morocco, French subjects were murdered at Marakesch in 1907, and France occupied the province of Udja with troops until satisfaction should be given. Owing to riots at Casablanca in 1908, in which French as well as Spanish and Italian labourers were killed, she decided to occupy the place, and sent a strong military and naval force thither. A French warship bombarded the town, and by June, 1908, the French army of occupation numbered 15,000 men. Meanwhile internal commotions and intrigues had led to the deposition of Abdul Aziz and his replacement on the throne by his brother, Muley Hafid, with the support of Germany. France and Spain refused to recognize the new ruler unless he gave guarantees that he would respect the Act of Algeciras. Muley gave the required guarantees, and in March, 1909, France "declared herself wholly attached to the integrity and independence of the Shereefian Empire and decided to safeguard economic equality in Morocco." Germany on her side declared she was pursuing in Morocco only economic interests and, "recognizing that the special political interests of France in Morocco are closely bound up in that country with the consolidation of order and of internal peace," was "resolved not to impede those interests."

The German idea of not impeding French special political interests in Morocco was disclosed little more than two years later by the dispatch of the German gunboat _Panther_ (of "Well done, _Panther_!" fame) on July 3, 1911, to the "closed" port of Agadir on the south Moroccan coast.

It was as dramatic a coup as the Emperor's visit to Tangier and caused as much alarm. The fact is that the march of French troops to Fez, which had taken place a few months before, convinced the Emperor and his Government that France, relying on the support of her Entente friend England, was bent on the Tunisification of Morocco. The Emperor, Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, and Foreign Secretary Kiderlen-Wæchter met at the Foreign Office on May 21st, and it was decided to send a ship of war, as at once a hint and a demonstration, to Agadir or other Moroccan port. Germany, of course, in accordance with diplomatic strategy, did not disclose the real springs of her action, though they must have been patent to all the world. She notified the Powers of the dispatch of her warship, explaining that the sending of the _Panther_, which "happened to be in the neighbourhood," was owing to the representations of German firms, as a temporary measure for the protection of German protégés in that region, and taken "in view of the possible spread of disorders prevailing in other parts of Morocco."

In France, on the other hand, it was asserted that the step was not in conformity with the spirit of the Franco-German Agreement of 1909, in which Germany resolved not to impede French special interests, that there were no Germans at Agadir, and that only nine months previously Germany had angrily protested at the calling of a French cruiser at the same port. The reference was to the visit of the French cruiser _Du Chaylu_ in November, 1910, when the captain paid a visit to the local pasha. The German Foreign Secretary eventually said Germany had no objection to France using her police rights even in a closed port, and the admission was taken as a fresh renunciation on the part of Germany of any right to interference. Feeling ran high for a time both in France and Germany, while the German action added to the sentiment of hostility to Germany in England, and English political circles perceived in it a design on Germany's part of acquiring a port on the Moroccan coast. The word "compensation," which afterwards was to prove the solution of Franco-German differences was now first mentioned by Germany.

After England's determination to support France had been made plain by ministerial statements, the entire Morocco episode was closed by the Franco-German Agreement signed on November 5, 1911, as "explanatory and supplementary" to the Franco-German Agreement of 1909. The effect of the new Agreement was practically to give France as free a hand in Morocco as England has in Egypt, with the reservation that "the proceedings of France in Morocco leave untouched the economic equality of all nations." The Agreement further gives France "entire freedom of action" in Morocco, including measures of police. The rights and working area of the Morocco State bank were left as they stood under the Act of Algeciras. The sovereignty of the Sultan is assumed, but not explicitly declared. The compensation to Germany for her agreement to "put no hindrances in the way of French administration" and for the "protective rights" she recognizes as "belonging to France in the Shereefian Empire" was the cession by France to Germany of a large portion of her Congo territory in mid-Africa, with access to the Congo and its tributaries, the Sanga and Ubangi.

While the ground-idea of Germany's policy of economic expansion, and the source of all her trouble with England, is her insistence on her "place in the sun," the difficulty attending it for other nations is to determine the place's nature and extent, so that every one shall be comfortable and prosperous all round.

The alterations in conditions among civilized nations during the last half-century, more especially in all that relates to international intercourse--political, financial, commercial, social--makes it reasonable to suppose that changes must follow in the conduct of their foreign policies. The fact also, recognized by no country more clearly than by Germany, that the profitable regions of the earth are already appropriated makes an economic policy for her all the more advisable. An economic policy, moreover, is, notwithstanding her apparent militarism, most in harmony with the peaceful and industrious character of her people. Unfortunately, the stage in progress where the political and commercial interests of all nations have become defined and adjusted has not yet been reached, though the numerous agreements between the Great Powers of recent years go far towards clearing the way for so desirable a consummation. Unfortunately, too, it is in the very process of finding bases for such agreements that international jealousies and misunderstandings arise; and hence in securing peace, governments and peoples are at all times nowadays most in jeopardy of war. This consideration alone might very well be used to justify nations in keeping their military and naval forces strong and ready. Perhaps some day such forms of force will not be wanted, though admittedly the great majority of people still refuse to believe that the changes which have occurred have altered the fundamental attitude of countries to each other, and remain firmly convinced that to-day, as yesterday and the day before, great nations are moved by an irresistible desire to add to their territories and in every way aggrandize themselves, by diplomacy if possible, and if diplomacy fails, by force.

It is, of course, impossible to say with certainty what the real designs of the Emperor and his Government in this regard were during the Morocco episode, or are now. Some believe that their designs have always aimed, and still aim, at depriving Great Britain of her position of superiority in respect of territory, maritime dominion, and trade. Others hold that they seek and will have, _coûte que coûte_, new territory for Germany's increasing population, and look with greedy eyes towards South America and even Holland. Others yet again represent them as incessantly on the watch to seize a harbour here or there as a coaling station for warships and a basis of attack. But an unbiased survey of the annals of the Emperor's reign hitherto does not bear out any of these assertions. A policy of territorial expansion as such, mere earth-hunger, cannot be proved against him. Prince Bismarck was no colonial enthusiast, though he passes for being the founder of Germany's present colonial policy; and even to-day the colonial party in Germany, though a very noisy, is not a very large or influential one. Samoa--East Africa--Kiao-tschau--the Carolines--Heligoland--the Cameroons: how can the acquisition of comparatively insignificant and unprofitable places like these be used for proving that the might of Germany is or has been directed towards territorial conquest?

What, it may however be asked, of the Morocco adventure? Of the speech at Tangier? Of the sending of the _Panther_ to Agadir? Of the demand for compensation in Central Africa? Until the Morocco question arose, all the quarrels amongst the Powers regarding territory were caused by the territorial ambition of France, or Russia, or Italy--not of Germany; and it was not until France showed openly, by sending her troops to Fez, and thus ignoring the Act of Algeciras, that Germany put forward claims for territorial compensation in connection with Morocco. The visit of the Emperor to Tangier in 1905, a year after the Anglo-French Agreement, was doubtless an unpleasant surprise for both England and France. And not without good cause; for England and France are naturally and historically Mediterranean Powers--the one as guardian of the route to her Eastern possessions, the other as the owners of a large extent of Mediterranean coast; while England, in addition, was justified in seeing with uneasiness the possibility of a German settlement at Tangier or elsewhere on the Morocco seaboard. But the Tangier visit and all that followed it was the consequence, not of an adventurous policy of territorial conquest, but of a legitimate, and not wholly selfish, desire for economic expansion.

Taken, then, as a whole, the Emperor's foreign policy has been, as it is to-day, almost entirely economic and commercial. The same might, no doubt, be said in a general way of all civilized Occidental governments, but there never has yet been a country of which the foreign policy was so completely directed by the economic and mercantile spirit as modern Germany. The foreign policy of England has also been commercial, but it has been influenced at times by noble sentiment and splendid imagination as well. The first question the German statesman, in whose vocabulary of state-craft the word imagination does not occur, asks himself and other nations when any event happens abroad to demand imperial attention is--how does it affect Germany's economic and commercial interests, future as well as present? What is Germany going to get out of it? The manner in which on various occasions during the reign the question has been propounded has excited criticism bordering on indignation abroad, but it should be recognized that it has invariably been answered in the long run by Germany in the spirit of compromise and conciliation.

However, all civilized nations nowadays see that war is the least satisfactory method of adjusting national quarrels, and the tendency is happily growing among them to pursue a commercial, an economic policy, a policy of peace. This is true Weltpolitik, true world-policy. Time was when wars were the unavoidable result of conditions then prevailing; but conditions have greatly altered, and war, as there is abundant evidence to show, is to-day, in almost every case, avoidable by all civilized peoples. Formerly war deranged and disturbed at any rate for the time being, the commerce and industries of the countries engaged in it; to-day, as Mr. Norman Angell demonstrates, it deranges and disturbs commerce and industry all over the world. The derangement and disturbance may, it is true, be only temporary; but there is, as always, the loss of life among the youth of the countries engaged in war to be remembered. Granted that it is pleasant and honourable to die for one's country. Let us hope the time is coming when it will be equally pleasant and honourable to live for it.

We have done with Morocco, but to round off the record for 1905 mention should be made of an incident in the Emperor's life which was a source of great pleasure to him after his return from his journey thither. The marriage of his eldest son, the Crown Prince, took place in the Chapel Royal of the Berlin palace on June 15, 1905, to the young Duchess Cecile of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, whose character has been alluded to elsewhere and whom all Germans look forward with pleasure to seeing one day their Empress. The marriage naturally was attended by rejoicings in Berlin similar to those shown when the Emperor was married in 1881. Their chief popular feature, now as then, was the formal entry into the capital, and its chief domestic feature a grand wedding breakfast at the Emperor's palace. On the occasion of the latter, the Emperor, rising from his seat and using the familiar _Du_ and _Dich_ (thou and thee), addressed his newly-made daughter-in-law as follows:--

"My dear daughter Cecilie,--Let me, on behalf of my wife and
my whole House, heartily welcome you as a member of my House
and my family circle. You have come to us like a Queen of
Spring amid roses and garlands, and under endless
acclamations of the people such as my Residence city has not
known for long. A circle of noble guests has assembled to
celebrate this high and joyful festival with us, but not
only those present, but also those who are, alas, no more,
are with us in spirit: your illustrious father and my
parents.

"A hundred thousand beaming faces have enthusiastically
greeted you; they have, however, not merely shone with
pleasure, but whoever can look deeper into the heart of man
could have seen in their eyes the question--a question which
can only be answered by your whole life and conduct, the
question, How will it turn out?

"You and your husband are about to found a home together.
The people has its examples in the past to live up to. The
examples which have preceded you, dear Cecilie, have been
already eloquently mentioned--Queen Louise and other
Princesses who have sat on the Prussian throne. They are the
standards according to which the people will judge your
life, while you, my dear son, will be judged according to
the standard Providence set up in your illustrious
great-grandfather.

"You, my daughter, have been received by us with open arms
and will be honoured and cherished. To both of you I wish
from my heart God's richest blessings. Let your home be
founded on God and our Saviour. As He is the most impressive
personality which has left its illuminating traces on the
earth up to the present time, which finds an echo in the
hearts of mankind and impels them to imitate it, so may your
career imitate His, and thus will you also fulfil the laws
and follow the traditions of our House.

"May your home be a happy one and an example for the younger
generation, in accordance with the fine sentence which William
the Great once wrote down as his confession of faith; 'My powers
belong to the world and my country.' Accept my blessing for your
lives. I drink to the health of the young married couple."

The record of this memorable year may be closed with mention of an institution which is not only a special care of the Emperor's, but is also a landmark in the relation of Germany and America which may prove to be the forerunner, if it has not already done so, of similar interchange of ideas and information between nations which only require mutually to understand each other in order to be the best of friends.

The system of an annual exchange of professors between America and Germany was suggested, it is believed, to the Emperor in this year by Herr Althoff, the Prussian Minister of Education. The Emperor took up the idea with enthusiasm, and after discussing it with Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, who was invited to Wilhelmshohe for the purpose, had it finally elaborated by the Prussian Ministry of Education which now superintends its working.

The original idea of an exchange only between Harvard and Berlin University professors was, thanks to the liberality of an American citizen, Mr. Speyer, extended almost simultaneously by the establishment of what are known as "Roosevelt" professorships. The holders of these positions, unlike the original "exchange" professors between Harvard and Berlin only, may be chosen by the trustees of Columbia University from any American university and can exchange duties for two terms, instead of one in the place of the exchange professors, with the professors of any German University. Harvard professors have been succesively: Francis G. Peabody, Theodore W. Richards, William H. Scofield, William M. Davis, George F. Moore, H. Munsterberg, Theobald Smith, Charles S. Minog; and Roosevelt professors: J.W. Burgess, Arthur T. Hadley, Felix Adler, Benj. Ide Wheeler, C. Alphonso Smith, Paul S. Reinsch, and William H. Sloane.

Writing to the German Ambassador in Washington, Baron Speck von Sternburg, in November, 1905, the Emperor said:

"Express my fullest sympathy with the movement regarding the
exchange of professors. We are very well satisfied with
Professor Peabody, the first exchange professor, and
thankful to have him. He comes to me in my house, an
honourable and welcome guest. My hearty thanks also to Mr.
Speyer, for his fine gift for the erection of a
professorship in Berlin. The exchange of the learned is the
best means for both nations to know the inner nature of each
other, and from thence spring mutual respect and love, which
are securities for peace."

The idea of the exchange, as described by Professor John W. Burgess, of Columbia University, the first Roosevelt professor to Germany, is

"an exchange of educators which has for its purpose the
bringing of the men of learning of one country into other
countries and by a comparison of fundamental ideas to arrive
at a world-philosophy and a world-morality upon which the
world's peace and the world's civilization may finally and
firmly rest."

The conception of a world-philosophy and a world-morality upon which the world's peace and civilization may rest is not new, being now a little over 1900 years old, and, moreover, educators and men of science in all countries are constantly exchanging ideas by personal visits, correspondence, and publications; but in any case, the Emperor's exchange system has the advantage that it brings the educators into touch with large numbers of the rising generation in America and Germany and undoubtedly helps towards a better mutual understanding of the relations, and in especial the economic relations, of the two countries.

It has worked well, and the Emperor has encouraged it by showing constant hospitality to the American professors who have come to Berlin since the system was instituted. One or two episodes have given rise to a diplomatic question as to whether or not exchange professors and their wives have the privilege of being presented at Court. The question has practically been decided in the negative. This, however, does not prevent the Emperor entertaining the professors at his palace, or making the acquaintance of the professors' wives on other than Court ceremonious occasions.

XIII.

BEFORE THE "NOVEMBER STORM"

1906-1907

In the domestic life of the Emperor during these years fall two or three events of more than ordinary interest. From the dynastic point of view was of importance the birth of a son and heir to the Crown Prince in the Marble Palace at Potsdam.

The Emperor was at sea, on his annual northern trip, when the birth occurred. As the ship approached Bergen the town was seen to be gaily decorated with flags. As it happened, everybody on board knew of the birth except the Emperor, but none of the officers round him ventured to congratulate him, because they supposed he knew of it already and were waiting for him to refer to it. At Bergen the German Minister, Stuebel, and German Consul, Mohr, came on board. The Minister, being a diplomatist, said nothing, but the Consul, as Consuls will, spoke his mind and ventured his congratulations. "What? I am a grandfather!" exclaimed the Emperor. "Why, that's splendid! and I knew nothing about it!" The captain of the ship then asked should he fire the salute of twenty-one guns usual on such occasions. "No," said the Emperor, "that won't do. Mohr is a great talker. Let us first see the official despatches from Berlin." The party, including the Emperor, went down into the cabin to await the despatches, which were being brought from Bergen.

On their arrival a basketful of State papers was placed before the Emperor. The first one he took out was a telegram from the Sultan of Turkey with congratulations (great merriment); the second from an unknown lady in Berlin, with a name corresponding to the English "Brown," with four lines of congratulatory poetry; and it was not until more than a hundred despatches had been opened that they came to one from the Minister of the Interior and another from the Empress announcing the birth. Popular reports at the time represented the Emperor as boiling over with anger at his being kept or left in ignorance of the happy event. As a matter of fact, he was in high good-humour, and himself mentioned a similar occurrence at Metz in 1870, when an important movement of the French army was not reported because it was assumed that it was already known to the Intelligence Department. As a public sign of his satisfaction he amnestied the half-dozen of his subjects who happened to be in gaol as punishment for _lèse majesté_.

Another domestic event at this time was the celebration by the Emperor and Empress of their silver wedding. Berlin, of course, was illuminated and beflagged. There was a great gathering of royal relatives, a State banquet, and a special parade of troops. At the latter were remarkable for their huge proportions two former grenadiers of the regiment of Guards the Emperor commanded in his youth. They were now settled in America, but came over to Germany on the Emperor's particular invitation and, of course, at his private expense.

The last item of domestic interest this year (1906) worth record was the marriage of Prince Eitel Frederick, the Emperor's second son, with Princess Sophie Charlotte of Oldenburg. In his speech to the bridal pair on their wedding-day the Emperor referred to the personal likeness the young Prince bore to his great-grandfather, Emperor William, and expressed the hope that the Prince might grow more like him in character from year to year.

Meantime the Emperor had to pass through a season of great annoyance owing to the scandal which arose in connection with the so-called "Camarilla." The existence of a small and secret group of viciously minded men among the Emperor's entourage was disclosed to the public by the well-known pamphleteer, Maximilian Harden, a Jew by birth named Witowski, who as a younger man had been on semi-confidential terms with Prince Bismarck and subsequently with Foreign Secretary von Holstein. As a result of Harden's disclosures some highly placed friends of the Emperor were compromised and had ultimately to disappear from public life as well as from the Court. It was perfectly evident throughout that the Emperor had been totally ignorant of the private character of the men forming the "Camarilla," and nothing was proved to show that the group which formed it had ever unduly, or indeed in any fashion, influenced him.

An allusion made to the scandal by a deputy in the Reichstag brought the Chancellor, Prince von Bülow, to his feet in defence of the monarch. "The view," he said,

"that the monarch in Germany should not have his own
opinions as to State and Government, and should only think
what his Ministers desire him to think, is contrary to
German State law and contrary to the will of the German
people"

("Quite right," on the Right). "The German people," continued the Chancellor,

"want no shadow-king, but an Emperor of flesh and blood. The
conduct and statements of a strong personality like the
Emperor's are not tantamount to a breach of the
Constitution. Can you tell me a single case in which the
Emperor has acted contrary to the Constitution?"

The Chancellor concluded:

"As to a Camarilla--Camarilla is no German word. It is a
hateful, foreign, poisonous plant which no one has ever
tried to introduce into Germany without doing great injury
to the people and to the Prince. Our Emperor is a man of far
too upright a character and much too clear-headed to seek
counsel in political things from any other quarter than his
appointed advisers and his own sense of duty."

The Camarilla scandal was all the more painful as it was made a ground for insinuations disgraceful to German officers as a body. Such insinuations were, as they would be to-day, entirely unfounded.

Another thing that annoyed the Emperor this year was the publication of ex-Chancellor Prince Hohenlohe's Memoirs. The publication drew from him a telegram to a son of the ex-Chancellor in which he expressed his "astonishment and indignation" at the publication of confidential private conversations between him and Prince Hohenlohe regarding Prince Bismarck's dismissal. "I must stigmatize," the Emperor telegraphed,

"such conduct as in the last degree tactless, indiscreet,
and entirely inopportune. It is a thing unheard-of that
occurrences relating to a sovereign reigning at the time
should be published without his permission."

Germans as a people are passionately fond of dancing, and though everybody knows that the people of Vienna bear away the palm in this respect, claim to be the best waltzers in the world. The Emperor, accordingly, won great popularity among the dancers of his realm this year by lending a favourable ear to the sighing of the young ladies of the provincial town of Crefeld for a regiment which would provide them with a supply of dancing partners. The Emperor took occasion to visit the town, and brought with him a regiment of the Guards from Düsseldorf to form part of the new garrison. He was received by the city authorities, and was at the same time, doubtless, greeted from balcony and window by multitudes of fair-haired Crefeld maidens, who looked with delightful anticipations on the gallant soldiers, who were to relieve the tedium of their evenings, riding by. "To-day," the Emperor told the assembled city fathers, "I have kept my word to the town of Crefeld, and when I make a promise I keep it too (stormy applause). I have brought the town its garrison and the young ladies their dancers." The "stormy applause" was again renewed--amid, one may imagine, the enthusiastic waving of pocket-handkerchiefs from the windows and the balconies.

The salient feature of foreign politics just now was, naturally, the close on March 31st of the Conference of Algeciras. Its results have been referred to in the chapter on Morocco, and mention need only be made here of the famous telegram regarding it sent by the Emperor on April 12th of this year (1906) to the Foreign Minister of Austria, Count Goluchowski. "A capital example of good faith among allies!" he telegraphed to the Count, meaning Austria's support of Germany at Algeciras. "You showed yourself a brilliant second in the tourney, and can reckon on the like service from me on a similar occasion."

Internal affairs, and particularly the parliamentary situation in Germany, had during the three or four years before that of the "November Storm" demanded a good deal of the Emperor's attention. The everlasting fight with the rebel angels of the Hohenzollern heaven, the Social Democracy, had been going on all through the reign. Now the Emperor would fulminate against it, now his Chancellor, Prince von Bülow, would attack it with brilliant ability and sarcasm in Parliament. Still the Social Democratic movement grew, still the _Vorwärts_, the party organ, continued to rail at industrial capitalists and the large landowners alike, still Herr Lucifer-Bebel bitterly assailed every measure of the Government. The fact seems to be that the people were getting restive under the imperial burdens the Emperor's world-policy entailed. The cost of living, partly as a result of the new German tariff, with maximum and minimum duties, which now replaced the Caprivi commercial treaties, was steadily rising. The Morocco episode had ended without territorial gain, if with no loss of national honour or prestige. The Poles were antagonized afresh by a stricter application of the Settlement Law for Germanizing Prussian Poland. Colonial troubles in South-west Africa with Herero and other recalcitrant tribes were making heavy demands on the Treasury.

The parliamentary situation was, as usual, at the mercy of the Centrum party, which, with its hundred or more members, can always make a majority by combining with Liberal parties of the Left (including the Socialists) or Conservative parties of the Right. In December, 1906, when the Budget was laid before Parliament, it was found to contain a demand for about £1,500,000 for the troops in South-west Africa. The Centrum refused to grant more than £1,000,000, and required, moreover, an undertaking that the number of troops in the colony should be reduced. The Social Democrats, with a number of Progressives and other Left parties sufficient to form a majority, joined the Centrum, and the Government demand was rejected by 177 to 168 votes. On the result of the voting being declared, Chancellor von Bülow solemnly rose and drew a paper from his pocket. It was an order from the Emperor dissolving Parliament.

The general elections were to be held in January following, and great efforts were made by the Emperor and Chancellor to secure a Government majority against the combined Centrists and Socialists. The country was appealed to to say whether Germany should lose her African colonies or not; a patriotic response was made, and, though the Centrum, as always, came back to Parliament in undiminished strength, the Socialists lost one-half of their eighty seats.

The Emperor, needless to say, was tremendously gratified. On the night the final results were announced he gave a large dinner-party at the Palace, and read out to the Royal Family and his guests the bulletins as they came in. Towards one o'clock in the morning the official totals were known. The streets were knee-deep in snow, but the people were not deterred from making a demonstration in their thousands before the palace. By and by lights were seen moving hurriedly to and fro along the first floor containing the Emperor's apartments. A general illumination of the suite of rooms followed, a window was thrown up, and the Emperor, bare-headed, was seen in the opening. Instantly complete stillness fell on the vast square, and the Emperor, leaning far out over the balcony, and evidently much excited, spoke in stentorian tones and with a dramatic waving of his right arm as follows: "Gentlemen!"--the "gentlemen" included half the hooligans of Berlin, but such are the accidents of political life--

"Gentlemen! This fine ovation springs from the feeling that
you are proud of having done your duty by your country. In
the words of our great Chancellor (Bismarck), who said that
if the Germans were once put in the saddle they would soon
learn to ride, you can ride and you will ride, and ride
down, any one who opposes us, especially when all classes
and creeds stand fast together. Do not let this hour of
triumph pass as a moment of patriotic enthusiasm, but keep
to the road on which you have started."

The speech closed with a verse from Kleist's "Prince von Homburg," a favourite monarchist drama of the Emperor's, conveying the idea that good Hohenzollern rule had knocked bad Social-Democratic agitation into a cocked hat.

The result of the elections enabled the Chancellor to form a new "bloc" party in Parliament, consisting of conservatives and Liberals, on whose united aid he could rely in promoting national measures. As the Chancellor said, he did not expect Conservatives to turn into Liberals and Liberals into Conservatives overnight nor did he expect the two parties to vote solid on matters of secondary interest and importance; but he expected them to support the Government on questions that concerned the welfare of the whole Empire.

Before 1907, the year we have now reached, Franco-German and Anglo-German relations had long varied from cool to stormy. They had not for many years been at "set-fair," nor have they apparently reached that halcyon stage as yet. During the Moroccan troubles it was generally believed that on two or three occasions war was imminent either between France and Germany or between Germany and England. That there was such a danger at the time of M. Delcassé's retirement from the conduct of French foreign affairs just previous to the Algeciras Conference is a matter of general conviction in all countries; but there is no publicly known evidence that danger of war between England and Germany has been acute at any time of recent years. Nor at any time of recent years has the bulk of the people in either country really desired or intended war. There has been international exasperation, sometimes amounting to hostility, continuously; but it was largely due to Chauvinism on both sides, and was in great measure counteracted by the efforts of public-spirited bodies and men in both countries, by international visits of amity and goodwill, and by the determination of both the English and German Governments not to go to war without good and sufficient cause.

Among the most striking testimonies to this determination was the visit of the Emperor to England in November, 1907.

The visit was made expressly an affair of State. The Emperor was accompanied by the Empress, and the visit became a pageant and a demonstration--a pageant in respect of the national honours paid to the imperial guests and a demonstration of national regard and respect for them as friends of England. Nothing could have been simpler, or more tactful or more sincere than the utterances, private as well as public, of the Emperor throughout his stay. His very first speech, the few words he addressed to the Mayor of Windsor, displayed all three qualities. "It seems to me," he said, "like a home-coming when I enter Windsor. I am always pleased to be here." At the Guildhall subsequently, referring to the two nations, he used, and not for the first time, the phrase "Blood is thicker than water."